From Tobacco Tactics to Gaslighting: Exposing The Industry Misinformation Playbook

Footnotes:

1. For example, the tobacco industry’s reputation can be more positive in LMICs, particularly those in which tobacco is grown or tobacco products manufactured, or in which tobacco companies are major taxpayers. Therefore tobacco companies do not necessarily need to rehabilitate their reputation, but rather to maintain it, going to great lengths to do so through CSR and public relations. In cases where such initiatives occur in partnership with government departments, the industry can gain access to, and enhance its reputation with, policy makers and the public. Partnerships with local authorities can even give access to state employees responsible for the implementation of regulation or ensuring compliance with the law.
2. https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/Tobacco-Industry-Targeting.pdf
3. https://truthinitiative.org/sites/default/files/media/files/2019/03/truth-initiative-menthol-fact-sheet-dec2018.pdf
4. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/1/75
5. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/climate/gas-stove-health.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Citations:

• Apollonio DE, Bero LA. The creation of industry front groups: the tobacco industry and “get government off our back”. Am J Public Health. 2007 Mar;97(3):419-27. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.081117. Epub 2007 Jan 31. PMID: 17267719; PMCID: PMC1805008.
• B.K. Matthes, K. Lauber, M. Zatoński, et al, Developing more detailed taxonomies of tobacco industry political activity in low-income and middle-income countries: qualitative evidence from eight countries, BMJ Global Health, 2021;6:e004096, doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-00409
• Lauber K, Rutter H, Gilmore AB. Big food and the World Health Organization: a qualitative study of industry attempts to influence global-level non-communicable disease policy. BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Jun;6(6):e005216. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-005216. PMID: 34117011; PMCID: PMC8202098
• Public Health Law Center at Mitchell Hamline School of Law. (2021, June). The Tobacco Industry & the Black Community – Public Health Law Center. Public Health Law Center. https://publichealthlawcenter.org/sites/default/files/resources/Tobacco-Industry-Targeting.pdf
• S. Ulucanlar, G.J. Fooks, A.B. Gilmore, The Policy Dystopia Model: An Interpretive Analysis of Tobacco Industry Political Activity, PLoS Medicine, 2016, 13(9): e1002125, doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002125
• Tobacco Industry Tactics, Tobacco Tactics, updated 20 July 2023, accessed 16 November 2023. https://tobaccotactics.org/article/tobacco-industry-tactics/

Further Resources to Understand the Issue:

• 4 Ways the Tobacco Industry is Attempting to Rebrand Itself, Truth Initiative news article (June 10, 2021).
• Addressing Tobacco Industry Targeting of Tribes, Public Health Law Center fact sheet (June 2021) Brady, J. (2023, October 17).
• How gas utilities used tobacco tactics to avoid gas stove regulations. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2023/10/17/1183551603/gas-stove-utility-tobacco
• De La Torre, D. (2023, February 9). NW natural pulls from Big Tobacco’s playbook. Oregon Capital Chronicle. https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/02/09/nw-natural-pulls-from-big-tobaccos-playbook/
• Fumes in focus. Beyond Toxics. (2023, December 13). https://www.beyondtoxics.org/work/climate-justice/building-a-fossil-free-future/analyzing-toxic-gas-exposure-from-gas-appliances/
• Gas stoves. Pacific Northwest Center for Translational Environmental Health Research. (2023, January 18). https://ehsc.oregonstate.edu/gas-stoves
• Lamb , A. (2022, August 23). Busting gas myths: Gas stoves and indoor air quality. Oregon CUB. https://oregoncub.org/news/blog/busting-gas-myths-gas-stoves-and-indoor-air-quality/2620/?ceid=7567441&emci=c1a1151e-8a25-ed11-bd6e-281878b914e7&emdi=0c94892f-8528-ed11-ae83-281878b83d8a&sourceid=110117
• Up in Smoke: Centuries of the Tobacco Industry Targeting the Black Community, webinar co-hosted by The African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, The Center Black Health & Equity, and Corporate Responsibility (June 4, 2021), archived on YouTube.